Why did the cryptographer have an existential crisis? Because he realized that the thin, gossamer thread separating mathematical civilization from complete anarchy is bilinearity. And despite years of study, proofs, and late-night debugging sessions, he still wakes up in a cold sweat wondering if he actually understands why e(aP, bQ) = e(P, Q)^(ab) or if he's just really good at cargo-culting the rituals that make the pairing check go green.

The punchline? There is no punchline. Just you, your elliptic curves, and the creeping suspicion that bilinearity is laughing at all of us from its higher dimensional perch while we frantically wave our hands and pretend we know why it works instead of just that it works.